Real Time

2008 has been a stinker for films - it seems nothing has gelled or been original - was Wall.E really the highlight!?!? - so Real Time for me was kind of a nicer way to finish the year.

This is a tiny film - totally focused on the two main characters that just works. The enforcer, in a great turn by Randy Quaid, is there to kill a pathetic gambler, Andy, played by Canadian Jay Baruchel.

What makes this is the conversations, nothing Tarantino-like, but somehow they involve us and make us care.

At only 1 hour and 17 minutes this is short, but very well directed and most of all it is logical, neat, and the performances ring true. Honestly, one of the better films of the year, and I would recommend it as being a refreshing change from some of the garbage we've been served this year.

I noticed a posting "Best film of the Toronto Film Festival" -- now that had to be one of the WORST film Festivals I have EVER heard of.

Randy Quaid and Jay Baruchel did their jobs as far as the acting goes, but come on??????? --- wheres the story? There is no way on this green earth that a hard ass hit man is going to go that route.

This was boring, long drawn out BS.... another total waste of time. -- What is with the film industry today? Has our economy gotten so bad that they have to stoop to low budget crap to infiltrate the market just to give us something to watch? Jeeeezzzzzzz Come ON PLEASE!!!!!!!.

How can anyone give this a 10?

3 at best.

i watched this and OMG a great movie, a great ending. A sublime movie within a movie after you see it once and the ending you have to watch it again, the first time you see it tells you a whole new movie now that you know, you watch it again and see it from a different perspective.

is a bit slow to start of and there is no action like most Hollywood dumps that are coming out, but if you want to see a great story this film will entertain you.

Hollywood should do more like this VION- Virtual Internet Online Navagitor

So I've never posted one of these User Comments, but I had to write about how much I loved this film. The story centers around the two very strong characters of Andy (Baruchel) and Reuben (Quaid). The entire journey kept me captivated from beginning to end (which is no simple feat after a week of festival fatigue) but nothing prepared me for the ending. I have to say, without exaggeration, this film had one of the most perfect and moving conclusions of any film I've ever seen. I won't give anything away here, but I find myself constantly tearing up and moved at the thought of what happens. Now, almost a day later, I still feel its messages and themes rushing through me. Not only is this ending so great, it will probably make a second viewing of this film an entirely different and even stronger experience. My hats off to the writer and director of this film. Damn good work.

I recently received a rare opportunity to view this film, and boy am I glad I did. I have never written up a review before, but after seeing this movie I feel like I have to. Just to help get the word out that it exists.

The movie starts out with Andy, a complete and utter gambling addict, walking to the convenience store to buy a lottery ticket because he's feeling lucky. He buys the ticket, loses, and decides to go to the racetrack. On his walk there he is approached by the other main character, Reuben, whom Andy owes a LOT of money. Reuben tells him to get in the car, and proceeds to explain to Andy that he is going to kill him today. However, Andy is a guy that Reuben has always been fond of, so Reuben decides to give him 1 hour to do whatever he wants and come to peace with his life, while staying under Reuben's supervision of course. The rest of the movie is about Andy knowing for a fact that he is about to die and how he deals with it. I won't say any more, but I truly thought it had a beautiful ending.

The movie starts off with a bang, but it does drag for a few minutes in the middle, which is why I knocked off a point. It quickly picks back up though, and the final 15 minutes will have you inches from your TV. I should also note that the movie starts out rather comedic, but the tone rapidly changes to drama. I felt that the trailer didn't really do it justice, as it focused on the comedy part a bit much. In fact, I almost wanna say don't even bother with the trailer.

The movie, as the title suggests, is completely shot in real time. This means that the 73ish minutes that you are sitting there are the exact minutes of Andy's final hour (which is actually slightly over an hour). You see every characters move, every turn of the vehicle, and hear every single word spoken. Fortunately, this is a good thing as the dialogue is excellent, so the car rides on the longer side aren't boring.

After the movie movie ended, I haven't been able to stop thinking about it...which kind of stinks because I don't know anybody else who has seen it and I can't talk about it! So here I am, a couple days later, writing a review in hopes of getting the word of this movie out there.

The story is great, the dialogue is great, the acting is great, and it's a unique approach to film. My bet is that word of this one will catch on real quick and we'll be seeing it in theaters stateside within the year.